The Beaver Dusters worked their way through the Rolla Showcase Tournament, all the way to the championship game, but came up short in a 55-37 loss to the Elkhart Wildcats.

The Dusters did not get their offense going until too late, scoring over half their points (20) in the fourth quarter. The Dusters were forced to put the Wildcats on the line, and Elkhart responded by making 18 of 32 free throws to ice the game.

Elkhart built an early lead by shutting down the Dusters motion offense early in the game. Beaver trailed 12-3 after the first period and 27-12 at the half. Elkhart increased the lead to 20 heading into the fourth quarter.

Beaver’s Trenton Downing and David Rivera scored eight points each, and were named to the all-tournament team.

Beaver is now 4-4 and will travel to Booker, Texas Friday for their next contest.

Beaver plunders Lady Pirates

By JASON EPP

Leader & Times

The Beaver Lady Dusters shut out the Keyes Lady Pirates 14-0 in the first quarter to start the game and rolled to a 55-13 romp, and a two-game winning streak.

“That’s what we pride ourselves on over here, playing really good defense,” said Beaver coach Casey Jones. “We played a lot of kids and maintaineda good level of intensity throughout. After the losses we’ve had we would go back in the locker room and talk about how close we were to closing a game, and to win won out. Every game we’ve been competitive, but just haven’t closed the deal. Friday and Saturday it came together.”

Keyes was finally able to get off the goose egg in the second, but were unable to slow down the Lady Dusters. Beaver increased their lead to 24 ate the half, 29-5.

“We had a couple of girls who hadn’t been getting much playing time that stepped up and some that were forced to because of foul trouble against Elkhart,” said Jones. “Cassie Howell really stepped up her game, and played well on defense all three nights.”

Both teams best offensive outputs came in the third with Beaver outscoring Keyes 20-8 to take a 36-13 lead heading into the final period. Beaver again pitched a shutout to close out the win.

Nine Lady Dusters in all scored with Kalie Hoover leading the way with 17. Jacinda Balderamma scored 11, and Hannah Broodfoot and Kyndal Sutton each added 7.

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The High Plains Daily Leader and Southwest Daily Times are published Sunday through Friday and reaches homes throughout the Liberal, Kansas retail trade zone. The Leader & Times is the official newspaper of Seward County, USD No. 480, USD No. 483 and the cities of Liberal and Kismet. The Leader & Times is a member of the Liberal Chamber of Commerce, the Kansas Press Association and the Associated Press.

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